Web of Fragments
by Soozie Quixotic
Summary: New: Friendship - Emily is always disturbed by seeing Adriane in pain. This is a collection of character-focused one-shots, each 1,000 words or less, for any genre, any characters, and any pairing. Requests are welcome and encouraged.
1. Dual

**Web of Fragments**

This is a collection of mini-one-shots under 500 words apiece. I'm low on time but high on inspiration, so this is an outlet for all of the ideas that I can't expand into longer fics right now. They'll be character-focused and I'll write almost any pairing. I totally welcome requests: just give me a situation, character, pairing, emotion, etc. and I'll try writing it.

* * *

**Title:** Dual

**Characters:** Lorren

**Genre:** Angst

**Pairings:** None

**Warnings:** None

**Word count:** 150

* * *

Being two people was difficult.

A dark and fragile curtain divided him. When he was careless, it tore and his secret self—whichever he needed to hide away—flickered through to questioning eyes.

The Forest Prince would be briefing his Lieutenants when suddenly, those faces fixed on him would turn his mind fearfully numb, and he would shrink back as if he could disappear behind an invisible King and Queen.

Prince Lorren would be silently watching his mother and the Fairy Queen arguing when, seized by a burning idea, an intense voice would burst from him and draw the Queens' shocked glances.

And with his friends, he would have moments where he could not speak because he had forgotten who he was supposed to be. He wondered if "Lorren" even existed, of if he was only a hollow cast of a person, a shadow that could don its own masks.

* * *

Hey, don't hold out on requests and reviews.


	2. Barrier

For TheMacUnleashed, here's Zach and the mistwolves.

* * *

**Title:** Barrier

**Characters:** Zach, Silver Eyes, the mistwolf pack, and mentions of Adriane

**Genre:** Angst, family

**Pairings:** Implied Adriane/Zach

**Warnings:** None

**Word count:** 305

* * *

He felt most alone when they ran.

Their paws barely touched the forest dirt of well-worn paths through the undergrowth. Each wolf leapt with impossible grace, its four lean legs bounding out and drawing back harmoniously as they carried it deeper into the dense green.

He loped after them on clunking and pounding shoes that caught on roots and made him stumble. His lungs and muscles burned as the wolves still ran strong, slowing him to a walk that widened the gap between them.

The pack passed him one-by-one: first the wolves in their prime, then the healthy young, and finally the aged and sick, who glanced at him with a touch of triumph before leaving him behind. Only Silver Eyes kept pace with him. Though far from her intention, he felt guilty for dragging her back, and many times he fought the urge to ridiculously apologize for not being a wolf—for not being fast and strong and beautiful like the rest.

When they ran, that barrier became the most painfully clear. They were a family in name and in his fantasies, but they could never truly run together; they did not look or act or think the same. He had abandoned the pack and they had abandoned him, and though they tried to forget, that rift could never be healed.

He had wondered if, by magic, he could become a wolf—if he could become like them and run with them and have a true family. But since he met _her_, humanity didn't seem so terrible. When he and she ran with the pack, he was not so alone beside someone who shared that strange in-between place. She with her bonded wolves gave him hope that maybe the barrier wasn't impossible, that maybe he could cross it—that they could cross it together.

* * *

Next week, school will be less crazy and I can write more requests! So send 'em in.


	3. Bilingual

**Only two more days of school! Here's Sora-chan120's request, written during a nighttime drive to NYC. Remember to make your own requests!**

* * *

**Title:** Bilingual

**Characters:** Adriane and Zach

**Genre:** Friendship, romance undertones

**Pairings:** Mild Adriane/Zach

**Warnings:** None

**Word count:** 495

* * *

"You're awesome at quadratics," Adriane laughed.

"It's right?" Zach looked up from the science textbook.

"Yeah, all of it."

On that warm summer night, they sat around Adriane's kitchen table with glasses of iced tea and a small army of school books and worksheets.

"Why doesn't _this_ make as much sense as quad-whatsits?" Zach frowned and gestured to the pile of science work. "What's an atom, anyway? If it's so small, why should I care about it? How do you even understand this?"

Adriane sighed and Zach instantly felt guilty. The elves had taught him reading, writing, and arithmetic—but now she was devoting so much to teaching him everything else.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I should be thanking you, not complaining."

"It's okay, but it's a weird problem. How do you teach science to someone who's learned to see the world through magic?"

Suddenly, muffled music rang from a little black rectangle on the table—'cell phone,' she had called it.

Adriane glanced at a glowing part on the front. "It's my dad," she picked it up, poked it, and then held it to her ear. Humans made the strangest inventions when they didn't have mirrors or porta-portals.

"Salut Papa, ça va?" Adriane spoke is strange-sounding words, utterly foreign to him.

Pause.

"Vraiment?" she sounded excited. "Quand venez-vous?"

A longer pause.

"Et vous pouvez loger dans la petite maison à côté de la notre!"

She continued with those words that flowed like music—a voice that was both hers and unlike anything he had ever heard. He watched her mouth, realizing just then how interesting and beautiful her full lips were as they moved exotically around these words. Like a spell, her language drew him in by illuminating his old friend in this entrancing new light. Why had he never noticed this before?

"Bonne nuit," she said, smiling, and put down the phone. She turned back to him, unaware that he had been staring at her instead of the chapter on atoms.

"My dad said that he and my mom want to visit next month," she said in her normal voice and language, then waited for a response that he couldn't offer. Where did the music go? Confused with mental whiplash, he only blinked at her. "What's wrong?" she leaned over the table towards him, scrutinizing.

_That was beautiful_, he thought. He didn't realize that he'd said it aloud until Adriane's face turned to shock. "Well—um, I…" he couldn't think.

"Oh, uh, the language," blushing, she diverted her gaze to the checkered kitchen curtains. "It's called French—my dad speaks it—and, um, yeah. I guess it's pretty…pretty."

Impulsively, he blurted: "Can I learn it?"

"Well, sure I guess. Kara learns it in school. I learned it from my dad when I was little. I could put it on our list…"

He just grinned at her and she smiled back, somewhat puzzled. Right then, he wanted nothing more than to understand that music.

* * *

**Love it? Hate it? Review it! ****I'm Old Gregg!**** Request what you want next.**


	4. Stigma

**Snowlia requested a Tasha fic, so here it is! This fic explores how the Dark Sorceress may have changed popular perception of the title "Goblin Sorceress." Poor Tasha.**

* * *

**Title:** Stigma

**Characters:** Tasha

**Genre:** Angst

**Pairings:** None

**Warnings:** None

**Word count:** 238

* * *

_Goblin Sorceress_.

Why do you look at me suspiciously when you say those words, as if you alone see the sinister meaning behind them? You intend for me to notice. It's your warning of "I know that you're up to something," because obviously, someone with a title like _Goblin Sorceress_ must be plotting something awful behind her sweet façade.

In fact, I am up to something. I am up to crunching data, tracking magic, mapping portals, conducting magical research, and doing everything else that I can to help our cause, to protect the web and keep the dark magic at bay. But you don't see that. You only see the twisted words.

It is because of you that every day, I must remind myself that I am not what you think I am. I am not the Sorceress who, like a starving beast, ripped magic from thousands of creatures to fill her lust for power, careless of everything that she destroyed. I am not the goblins who followed her and scavenged the scraps of dark magic that she left in her wake. It is a tragedy that one person alone can soil two innocent words in past, present, and future.

And so I defy your ignorance and assumptions. I smile at you and say "Yes, that's me," because I have no reason to be ashamed. A little part of me still hopes that my words can be saved.

* * *

I only have two more requests to do, so keep them coming! My next mini-fic will probably live up to the "T" rating that I gave this anthology.


	5. Symbiosis

Title: Symbiosis

Characters: Joey, Adriane, Zach

Pairings: Adriane/Zach, one-sided Adriane/Joey

Rating: T

Contains: Swearing. References to violence and forced kissing.

Words: 750

Author's note: This deranged little thing was inspired by an old fic way back in the archive called "My Bloody Valentine" by Lithium Eyes. I've also upped my word limit to 1,000 because I'm just a cheater like that.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

There's something in those woods.

I didn't mean to do it. I didn't _want _to do it. I didn't even want to be there, but Kyle and Marcus dared me to stay at Ravenswood all night. It's just our dumb summer tradition: every Saturday, whoever does a dare gets to dare someone else the next week. I wasn't even going through with it—lasted until sunset, got bored, and left for home when it started to storm.

Something followed me through the woods. At first, I thought it was just leaves shaking in gusts of wind, electrified with clouds green and churning in the dying daylight. But it wasn't some presence in the sky—it crunched the ground behind the trees where I could only see a black blur of it, following next to my worn-out trail and getting closer, closer. I guessed it was Adriane's black wolf. He's friendly, but I picked up the pace as the thunder growled louder and my hair stuck up with static. A bad storm was coming.

I was almost to the manor field when, for a split second, I saw the thing's eyes.

Two yellow goat eyes stared into me through black boxes that I can't even call pupils—they were voids. People say that eyes are the window on the soul, but this thing…there was nothing behind that frozen emptiness. It would've swallowed me whole in an instant. I don't believe in the devil. Even now, I don't know what or why, but I knew that that thing was fucking horrific—those dead eyes.

I bolted. I ran faster than I'd ever run before. Spikes of pain shot up my legs as feet pounded dirt at all the wrong angles. The first raindrops stung my face. None of that mattered. Footsteps, breathing and the thunder all clashed together; I couldn't hear if it was behind me.

Just as the trail ended, I saw _her_ half a field away and silhouetted against the dimming stormy sky. She was unmistakable: tall and twiggy with glossy black hair. She didn't see me. Standing with his arms around her, kissing her—it was _him_.

Something hard struck my toe and wrenched back my foot, pelting me head-forward into the dirt. It's funny how big rocks appear whenever a pretty girl distracts you, even for half a second. I lay sprawled on the ground with all breath and thoughts knocked out of me.

It caught me—stabbed my back with a thousand icicles and froze my lungs so I couldn't scream. The emptiness engulfed me as I numbed everywhere at once.

That thing made me do it! I'm not crazy. I'm not jealous—well, maybe a little. She's gorgeous and I've liked her for years and that guy is awkward with a capital-A, but he's good to her. I always figured that when she got tired of him, she'd have me, her loyal friend since eighth grade….

But the moment it sank its claws into me, I hated them. She was _mine_. He stole her from me. She left me for him. I couldn't just let them rub my face in the dirt—I'm nobody's doormat bitch.

Memories are sketchy after that. Of course, you don't believe me, but you have all your CSI shit anyway. What I say doesn't matter.

I remember Adriane's dark kitchen with a drawer of glinting knives.

I remember tracking him through the preserve, guided by only snapshots in the lightning with thunder so loud he didn't hear me coming.

I remember the rain washing blood from my hands.

I remember grabbing and kissing her quickly in the dark woods, before she realized that I wasn't him. She shoved me away. I grabbed my knife.

You said that I wasn't hit by lightning: I was crushed by a tree that was hit by lightning. Nothing else explains the injuries. I kind of remember that—a flash of gold and silver light, hearing the cracks of bark, branches, and bones.

You said he's still alive? I'm glad. You don't believe that either, but it's true. I don't hate him. I never wanted to hurt him. I'd tell her that I'm sorry, but she'll never forgive me anyway.

When you find that thing, you'll know why I did it. It's symbiotic—eats your soul, feeds your hate. It'll make you do the same. Can't you feel it? You can lock me up forever, but it won't stop.

There's still something in those woods.


	6. Lies

Title: Lies

Characters: Emily and Marcus

Pairings: Emily/Marcus

Rating: K+

Contains: A kiss. Vague references to injury.

Words: 509

Author's note: Thanks to ShutUpRandy for the idea of Emily having a normal human boyfriend! I totally ship this now.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Marcus!"

Emily nearly tripped over her flip-flops as she scurried across the movie theater parking lot. The boy standing under the marquee looked up from his phone and waved to her, grinning.

"Hey, Emily!"

Even though the sun lay barely visible behind the trees, the summer air remained stiflingly humid. Bits of sweat already tingled on the back of her neck as she caught him in a hug. Emily was twenty minutes late and so exhausted she could've fallen to the ground where she stood. She held him half as a boyfriend and half as a support post.

"I'm so sorry. I made you wait for so long and—"

"It's cool. Ravenswood, animals, that stuff's really important. Besides, I like it outside in the summer," he said, reassuring but tinged with disappointment. "I texted you like twice, though."

"Text?" Her hand flew to the empty pocket of her jeans. "Oh, I guess I forgot my phone in the Ravenswood library." That was a lie; she probably forgot it in Tasha's lab.

She pulled back to see his cute face wearing that usual clueless smile as his light curly hair moved in the slight breeze. Marcus really had no idea.

"That sucks. Come on, the first fifteen minutes are always previews anyway. We'll get in before the real movie starts." He hooked his arm around her waist and walked her through the automatic doors. The first wave of burnt popcorn smell was all it took to send her head swimming and her stomach churning. She stumbled, but he caught her.

"Woah, you okay?"

"Fine," she said and quickly righted herself, throwing him the most convincing smile she could muster. That was another lie; she was absolutely not fine. At four in the morning, the mages had been jarred out of bed by a portal call from the Fairy Realms. One of Tasha's experiments had exploded and injured her, Lorren, and half a dozen workers. Emily had spent the entire day healing burns and broken bones and consoling the guilt-stricken sorceress. They still didn't know if it was sabotage.

"You sure? Look, if anything's going on, you can tell me." Dense as he was, Marcus was no idiot and Emily was no actress. The genuine concern on his face made her want to cry more than anything.

"It's just tourist season at Ravenswood, stressful and there's always too much to do. That's why we really love that you Kyle, Molly, and everyone else helps us out." She changed the subject.

"Hey, it's fun and I get to hang out with you." Unexpectedly, he leaned down and kissed her. She stood on her toes and kissed him back, defying gravity as guilt weighed her down like concrete shoes.

It was all a lie. It would always be a lie. She could never tell him about the most important part of her life, and he could never support her through the bizarre and horrible things that confronted her every day. Emily couldn't pull him closer, but still, she couldn't let him go.


	7. Jealous

Title: Jealous

Characters: Kara, Lorren, Donovan, Frizzle, and Adriane

Pairings: Kara/Lorren; Kara/Donovan

Rating: K+

Contains: Nada.

Words: 424

Author's note: Thanks to Snowlia and Wolfgal for the idea of a jealousy-fic. Kara's boy problems are fun to write about.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"I don't like that warlock."

Kara crossed her arms and frowned at Lorren. "His name is Donovan, not _that warlock_."

"Well I don't like Donovan. The way he looks at you, it's…"

Kara glanced back at the Ravenswood Manor veranda from where they stood near the bushes. Donovan was sitting on the railing and regarding with fascination the tea that Adriane just brought him as Frizzle tried to squeeze his muzzle into the narrow glass. 'That warlock' was still as cute as ever with those bright green eyes and that ash blond hair. Ravenswood was closed to tourists for this cool spring afternoon, and _two _hot magical guys had paid surprise visits. It should've been a great day for Kara Davies.

"Uh, that might be because I kind of, um, almost kissed him. Once."

Lorren stared at her blankly.

"Don't look at me like that—I didn't cheat on you! It was before we were together. He showed up at Ravenswood, like, a few weeks after Emily got her Level Two powers. I just thought he was cute!"

"Why is he here, then?"

A breeze stirred up and blew right through Kara's lacy pink sundress. She brushed strands of long golden hair out of her face. "He and Frizzle are our friends! God, Lorren, stop being so jealous."

"I'm not jealous."

"Yeah, Mister I-don't-like-the-way-he-looks-at-you isn't jealous _at all_."

Lorren's pale green face turned a bit purple; goblins had the funniest way of blushing. She noticed that he was wearing one of the outfits she'd bought him from Calvin Klein, and his black hair was glossier than usual in the bright sunlight. Kara smiled in spite of herself. It was hard to stay mad at him.

"Look, he's really nice and if you just talked to him, maybe you'd even be friends. You have a lot in common, like how both your dads are—"

"Be friends with a warlock? Not a chance."

"Oh, so now you have a warlock prejudice?"

"There's a long history of political animosity between warlocks and the Fairy R—"

"Well now you're a goodwill ambassador. Let's go mend relations." Kara hooked her arm around Lorren's and pulled him towards the veranda. "Hey Donnie, meet my boyfriend Lorren!"

"Huh?" The most adorably disappointed look came across Donovan's face. "…boyfriend…"

Sitting beside him, Adriane tossed Frizzle a piece of fresh popcorn and silently chuckled. _This'll be a great show. Good thing I made popcorn_, the warrior's voice echoed in Kara's mind.

Kara sighed. This wouldn't be as easy as she thought.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

I love reviews. I love requests. I love popcorn.


	8. Secret

Title: Secret

Characters: Adriane and Zach

Rating: K+

Contains: Angst.

Words: 489

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

They were alone. This was it.

Adriane and Zach stood side-by-side on the balcony of the Aldenmor Mage Academy's tallest tower, silently watching Emily teach a basic healing lesson on the grounds below. They had been waiting for Drake to return from Aquatania, but an incoming storm had grounded him in the Mountains of Glass. Adriane glanced up at the distant peaks, where grey-purple clouds were encroaching on the clear sky. It wouldn't be smart to stay on the balcony for much longer.

Beside her, Zach stared at the ground with a self-conscious effort that told her that he was trying very hard to seem calm and casual.

"Your…your hair looks nice today." As Zach spoke, his shoulder brushed against hers in a way that was supposed to seem accidental. Maybe two years ago, Adriane would've flushed with confused embarrassment. Guys hadn't given her much attention back then, so she hadn't known how to handle it. Now, Zach's attempts at flirting and compliments just soaked her with guilt.

"Thanks, yours too," she said dryly with a smile. "Using that shampoo Kara gave you?"

He laughed. "Yeah. If you like it, the stuff must work."

There she was, leading him on again. It was so cruel. She was worse to give him hope than to finally tell him the truth.

Those words, they pushed on her tongue like a raging river against a dam. It would be easy, so easy, to open the floodgates and let them loose on his ears, but fear of the aftermath kept her lips sealed together against the pressure of her conscience.

Zach was her best friend. She loved him. She couldn't risk losing him.

But she couldn't keep doing this. It wasn't fair. It wasn't right.

Ominous thunder rumbled in the distance. Normally, she would've thought of every way he could react—angry, sad, betrayed—but now she locked that away far in the back of her mind. She looked Zach straight in his blue eyes.

"I'm sorry."

"Huh?" Of course he was confused.

"I…I can't do this anymore. Zach, I love you and you're so important to me, you don't even know, but I don't…" She closed her eyes and opened them again. Zach held the same puzzled look, and he leaned forward with what seemed to be anticipation. "I don't love you the way you love me. I can't. I just can't."

His face clouded over in the exact way that she'd dreaded. "Why? Is it because I'm not from Earth? Is it that other guy, Joey—" Zach's voice cracked and Adriane resisted the urge to cry or look away from him. She wasn't ashamed of anything but leading him on.

"No! It's not your fault. It's not because of where you're from or how you look or how you act or anything—it's because I like girls. Only girls. And you can't help the way you are. Neither can I."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

I think that's a good place to leave off. Imagine for yourself how Zach reacts to Adriane being a lesbian. Personally, I think that he'd be supportive but angry with himself for not being the kind of friend that she'd feel comfortable telling, and frustrated that he still has feeling for someone who will never reciprocate. Maybe I'll write another one-shot from his POV…

I'm always taking requests, if anyone has a fic/situation/pairing/etc. they'd like to suggest.


	9. Gashes

Title: Gashes

Characters: Adriane and Emily

Rating: T

Contains: Blood and Friendship

Words: 613

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Okay, take it easy. Deep breaths," Emily reassured the girl who had just collapsed in her arms.

"Breathing…bad idea…hurts," mumbled Adriane. She tried to laugh at herself, but winced again. Drops of blood bloomed like red flowers on the wooden floors of Ravenswood Manor's library.

The mirror portal, through which Adriane had stumbled just moments before, shimmered uneasily in its ornate silver frame. As always, it reflected the fear and magical mayhem of everyone surrounding it.

"Where are you hurt?"

"Side and back…the right."

The couches sat on the other side of the room—no way Emily could carry her that far. Dreamer, uninjured, whimpered from a few feet away. He stood back to give them space.

"I'm going to put you down now, okay?"

Emily slowly knelt and eased Adriane to the floor. She lay on her good side, weak as a dead tree and nearly the same ashen color. Emily lifted her torn black tank top, shining wet with blood, and grimaced.

Four deep gashes marred her torso. Claw marks. Emily froze with the same cold panic she'd felt almost three years ago, when she healed her first injured animals. So much blood. Like rubber bands, the wounds stretched and slackened with Adriane's labored breathing. But it wasn't so much the gore that horrified her; it was Adriane's wide eyes staring into space, full of nothing but raw pain.

Emily snapped out of it. The longer she sat stupidly paralyzed, the more her friend suffered. "Hang in there. Just a few seconds, and it won't hurt anymore." She almost asked Adriane about what had happened, but if breathing hurt that much, then talking must have been excruciating.

Her jewel pulsed pale blue light as she latched onto Adriane's torn aura. She closed her eyes and imagined magic, muscle, flesh, and skin knitting themselves back together, back to normal, free of scars, and free of pain. Adriane gasped, and then let out a long low sigh of relief.

Emily opened her eyes to smooth tan skin, unmarked by anything to suggest that it had ever been ripped open.

"Feel better?"

Adriane nodded. "Let me just…lie here for a second. Get used to not hurting."

"Do you want to talk about what happened?"

"Nothing drastic. Just some rogue gargoyles on our way back from Dalriada. Bastards snuck up on me." Adriane frowned. "That's what I get for not paying attention to my surroundings, huh?"

Already, Adriane was almost back to her usual self, but Emily was still deeply disturbed by seeing her so vulnerable. She'd healed far worse injuries, but there was something uniquely terrifying about seeing her closest friend in agony, with or without magical healing powers on hand.

"Hey, you're in better shape than I would've been." Indeed she was. Adriane was the warrior, the strongest of all of them. The web was mostly safe and stable nowadays, but if something like that could happen to her, then what did that mean for Emily, Kara, and everyone else?

Adriane propped herself up on her elbows, her side and midriff still exposed. She smiled and said "Yunno, I'm reckless because I think that you'll always be here to patch me up."

Emily blushed for reasons unknown. "Of course I'll always be here. That's half the reason why I'm the healer and you're the warrior."

"God, I hope so. Without you, I would've been dead five times over." Adriane paused and studied her own blood on the floor. "I don't thank you enough. I don't know if I've ever told you just how important you are."

Emily could only react by throwing her arms around Adriane in a tight hug.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

I can't believe I haven't updated this fic in nearly a year. It doesn't feel like that much time has passed. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. I was aiming for an on-the-surface friendship fic with a tiny bit of femslash subtext. Adriane/Emily is a cute pairing, though Adriane/Kara is definitely still my favorite.


End file.
